Fires

One of my favorite authors, the late Mike Yaconelli spent some time with Henri Nouwen at L’Arche…

Faithful to the One
Henri J. M. Nouwen

There is no promise that everything will be rosy. The first thing is not to play savior of the world but to keep living in the world as a child of God. I see all these things happening, but I do not allow them to seduce me into the darkness. I live in the world but belong to God. If you live a life of watching and waiting, you will know what kind of call you have. You are not called to solve every problem in the world....

I work with mentally handicapped people. Sometimes I spend hours with one person, and we barely speak. Does that help people in Bosnia, does that help people in Northern Ireland, does it help people in Somalia? I don't know, but I think it does. I think that when I am faithful to one person who is given to me, then I am doing more than when I am anxiously trying to put out all the fires all over the world. And that gives me peace.